The highest wages in Major League Soccer

The legendary former Juventus president Gianni Agnelli ran the Turin giants by the motto: "Poor footballers are certainly overpaid. The good ones never earn enough."

By anyone's measure, Lionel Messi is a very good footballer. However, the World Cup-winning captain has chosen to play club football outside of Europe for the first time in his senior career, opting for MLS franchise Inter Miami when a potential return to Barcelona proved unfeasible.

Messi revealed that the financial restrictions at Barcelona - citing potential player sales or the reduction of salaries - put him off. "I didn't want to go through all of that," he said.

There will be no such economic confines at Inter Miami, with the league and Apple TV working in conjunction to give Messi all the financial incentive he needed to join MLS.

Here is the Major League Soccer wage hierarchy Messi will be thrust into.

The highest wages in Major League Soccer

Correct as of 30 April (via MLS Players Association)

Who is the only player in the history of the men's World Cup to score a hat-trick entirely made up of left-footed goals? No, it is not Messi but Xherdan Shaqiri.

The Switzerland international, formerly of Bayern Munich, Inter and Liverpool among others, has been at Chicago Fire since February 2022, raking in a league-high $8.15m (including guaranteed bonuses) each year. The Fire have seen little return on their investment, posting a losing record since signing the Power Cube.

Toronto FC have also been burned by chasing after expensive stars. European Championship winners Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi both moved from Serie A in the summer of 2022, becoming two of the four highest-paid players in the division, but have created more negative headlines than positive ones, with rumours of a rift between the pair and manager Bob Bradley rife.

LA Galaxy's Javier Hernandez at least earned his eye-watering annual salary of $7.44m by scoring 35 goals between 2021 and 2022 - the second-highest tally in MLS during this time frame. However, Chicharito will be collecting the rest of his wage packet from the treatment room after tearing his ACL at the start of June.

Josef Martinez has struggled to rediscover his scoring form since suffering a similar injury but is Inter Miami's highest earner on $4.39m a year - marginally less than D.C. United's Christian Benteke. Messi, however, is expected to eclipse Martinez's earnings by some margin.

READ MORE ON LIONEL MESSI'S MOVE TO INTER MIAMI

Does MLS have a wage cap?

Unlike its European counterparts, MLS operates under a wage cap - which is common practice across other North American sports.

All MLS clubs, regardless of revenue, are allowed to spend a maximum of $5.21m on their senior roster in the 2023 season, spread across at least 18 players and no more than 20.

However, Messi would almost certainly arrive into the squad as one of Inter Miami's three designated players (DPs) that fall outside of the salary cap. Gregore, Rodolfo Pizarro and Leonardo Campana are currently classified as DPs for Inter but one of that trio will surely be bumped for the incoming Messi.

On this week's edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders is joined by Toby Cudworth and Graeme Bailey to discuss Ange Postecoglou's appointment at Spurs, Man Utd chasing Rasmus Hojlund, Harry Kane to Real Madrid, Lionel Messi & more!

If you can't see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!